10 Horror Movies Which Refused To Give Fans What They Came For

Generally speaking, horror movie viewers want to be held in a vice-grip of suspense, get to witness some gory kills, and see the Final Girl triumph over their terrifying stalker - at least temporarily. It's not that hard.

And when it comes to horror franchises, it's basically a given that sequels, prequels, and spin-offs will largely just offer more of the same. After all, why tinker with a winning formula?

Yet these 10 horror movies decided to take a sharp left-turn and refuse to give fans what they paid their ticket price to see, in turn leaving them hugely divided - if not straight-up outraged.

From failing to deliver on the promises of the marketing to needlessly switching genres or styles, replacing beloved actors, or refusing to pay-off an expected storyline, these films went in a different direction and arguably not for the better.

A bait-and-switch can work if the missing aspect is replaced with something superior, yet you won't find too many fans who were left feeling fully satisfied by these movies.

The lesson, as ever, is clear: unless you really know what you're doing, just give the audience what they want...

Prior to its release, 2003's Freddy vs. Jason was marketed as the historic, long-awaited cinematic showdown between two of the most iconic slasher movie villains of all time, with the implication being that one would decisively defeat the other.

But of course, anyone with any awareness of how movie studios work knew there wasn't much chance that New Line Cinema would let either Freddy or Jason unambiguously go down for the count.

And so, Freddy vs. Jason ends with Freddy (Robert Englund) being decapitated by human protagonist Lori (Monica Keena) while Jason (Ken Kirzinger) falls off the dock, both seemingly dead.

Yet the final scene takes place the next morning, with Jason emerging from the water, brandishing both his machete and Freddy's decapitated head, before Freddy then cheekily winks at the camera and laughs. The End.

While Jason was certainly in better shape when the end credits rolled, New Line quite predictably refused to give the concrete W to either character, ensuring the ending felt like an undeniable - if unsurprising - copout.